


No Returns, No Exhanges

by fieryslytherin



Series: Switch [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-07-11 11:42:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7048261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fieryslytherin/pseuds/fieryslytherin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"“Look, Nino. If you want a girlfriend who isn’t going to run towards the akuma attack, you will just have to get yourself a new girlfriend, because I’m always going to run towards the danger. That’s what I--” She was cut off as she felt a firm hand on her back. Without even having to look back she knew that it was the Switcher."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Don't Go Away When I'm Talking to You

Alya felt her phone vibrate in her pocket for what felt like the hundredth time that night. She let it go to voicemail. She didn’t bother to look to see who it was, she already knew. Instead she took another step towards the screams that were coming from the end of the street. There was an akuma attack taking place and Alya was determined to get the latest scoop. Her Ladyblog had become famous on a global scale, people came to her for the latest on anything and everything Ladybug related. Another scream came from the end of the street, and Alya pulled out her phone, ready to film. Her screen glowed in the dark night and she read the letters on her screen.

> _ Nino: 4 Missed Calls. _

Alya rolled her eyes and dismissed the notifications, not bothering to call Nino back. She knew how their phone conversation would go. He would be furious at her for going to another akuma attack-- somehow he always knew when she was at one. She would argue that Paris depended on her to get the latest information on Ladybug. He would argue that he depended on her to stay alive. It was a month old argument. For some reason a few months ago Nino had become surprisingly more protective than he had been in the infancy of their relationship. As endearing as it was a first, Alya found it more frustrating than anything else. 

She opened up her camera app and began filming, trying to keep her mind off of her overprotective boyfriend. A red dot in the corner of her screen appeared, telling her that she was recording. Another scream came as she rounded a corner to see a woman fall to the ground. There was a crowd of people that were fleeing from a man. Alya could only assume that the man was an Akuma, but he didn’t seem like much. He wore a three piece suit that was a couple of sizes too big for him. It was an ugly off green color that you could only find in a thrift shop. His hair was slightly disheveled, making him look like he had just woken up from a terrible night’s sleep. He didn’t look like an akuma, that was for sure.The only thing that gave away his identity as an akuma was his ghostly pale skin. It wasn’t a skin color that existed in the world, but instead was a pure white-- like fresh fallen snow. It made him stand out from the crowd like a sore thumb. 

She noticed people started passing by her as they ran from the akuma, but she didn’t care. She was too busy trying to get the best shot of him for her ladyblog. Besides, Ladybug would show up any minute and end the chaos, so it wasn’t like they were in any danger. The man cackled and rose his hands. “None of you are going anywhere!” The man exclaimed.  A purple shade escaped his fingertips. She noticed what looked like a forcefield appear behind him.

A woman cried out behind her, “We are trapped!” Alya spun around to see the crowd of people that had just passed her pounding against an identical force field to no avail. A few realized that their efforts on the force field was pointless and began to scatter. Everyone looked terrified, though Alya was still unsure what it was that this Akuma did. All she knew was that people seemed to scream whenever he came near.

A woman ran too close to him and she watched in horror as he extended his fingertips and grabbed her wrist. Shock twisted into agony on her face as the woman let out a scream. Alya watched as a bright light seemed to come from her body, then the woman collapsed to the ground unconscious. 

“Listen up everybody,” The Switcher called out, though only half of the crowd of people were even listening to him, “I’m sick of no one paying attention to me. No one in this reality seems to care about me. So, I simply need to bring people from different realities here. So sit back and enjoy your small trip to another reality.”

Alya stayed rooted to her spot as she realized how high the stakes were. People on either side of her were sobbing as they tried to find a way out of their current situation. A small thud landed directly above Alya’s head and she looked up at the 5 story building to see Ladybug standing on the top. For a moment Alya pointed her camera at Ladybug as she talked into her yo-yo. She was no doubt calling Chat Noir for backup. The dynamic duo had showed up just in time.  _ We are safe,  _ she thought to herself relieved. She had actually started to worry for a moment that the akuma before her would be a threat, but with Ladybug around that wouldn’t be the case. 

A scream erupted from behind her and she turned to see the Akuma tightly gripping the shoulders of another man. “Kyle, Why are you doing this?” The man cried out as he let of a bright light. The akuma didn’t respond until the man collapsed to the ground. Then the akuma smirked and said.

“My name isn’t Kyle, It’s the Switcher. As for why I already told you,” he turned to look at the rest of the crowd that was busy scrambling in every direction, “I am bringing your best self into this reality.” Alya looked back up at Ladybug to see Chat land beside her. Ladybug turned to smile at Chat and said something to him almost, flirtatiously. Alya felt herself smile. After obsessing over Ladybug and Chat Noir for a few years she had her suspicions for who was behind each mask, and if she was right their flirting made her all the happier. 

Her thoughts of the dynamic duo were cut off my a buzz on her phone, making her camera disappear. Nino’s name appeared in big letters across her screen. She sighed and answered, not wanting to be the girl that let her boyfriend go to voicemail 5 times in a row. She didn’t even get a chance to say hello, Nino’s voice exploded in her phone receiver as soon as she answered the call. “Please tell me you aren’t where I think you are?!?” The boy screamed into the phone.

“Well that depends,” Alya replied cooly, “Where do you think I am?”

“Don’t play games with me Alya, the News Says that this Akuma is really dangerous, people are dropping like flies,” As if on cue, A woman-- not that far from Alya screamed. “You have got to be kidding me Alya,” Nino exclaimed from the other end of the phone.

“Don’t act so surprised Nino, of course I’m here. You know how important my Ladyblog is to me, why wouldn’t I be here.” She scolded into her cellphone.

“I thought living meant a lot to you too!” He yelled back. He was upset, Alya could picture that the muscle on the side of his forehead was bulging out like it did every time we was upset about something.

“I’m not going to die, Ladybug and Chat Noir are here,” Alya responded, trying to calm him down.

“What if they don’t help in time. You could be hurt, or worse.” Nino replied, still angry.

“Look, Nino. If you want a girlfriend who isn’t going to run towards the akuma attack, you will just have to get yourself a new girlfriend, because I’m always going to run towards the danger. That’s what I--” She was cut off as she felt a firm hand on her back. Without even having to look back she knew that it was the Switcher. Alya felt pain erupt inside her that was so strong that she let out a scream. Her phone slipped from her hand and crashed to the ground, but she didn’t care. Her body felt like it was rejecting itself. Alya closed her eyes as a bright light escaped her body. She felt weak and he knees buckled from underneath her. She had two thoughts as her world went dark, the first was of Nino. The second was that she knew with absolute certainty that Ladybug would save her

* * *

 

“Alya,” Nino called into the phone receiver, “Alya,” He tried again. Alya’s screams had sent him into a state of panic, then she hadn’t responded again. He could only assume the worst. Alya had put herself right in the middle of danger and danger had eaten her whole. 

“We are sorry, but the call that you have made has been disconnected, goodbye.” A robotic voice on the other end of the phone said. Nino growled and slammed his fist on a table in frustration. Alya was no doubt hurt, something that had become Nino’s worst nightmare a few months ago.

The two had been out on a date for their one year anniversary when an akuma had attacked the city. Alya had of course looked at him expectantly and Nino knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted to go check out the akuma attack. She wanted to go towards the danger. Nino had smiled and agreed to go with her. The two had ran off towards the akuma. The Akuma was a particularly foul breed of nasty. Paris hadn’t seen an akuma that dangerous, ever. He called himself the Crusher and he was an escaped convict. Later the police would say that Hawkmoth had promised to help the man to freedom if he simply took care of Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous. The crusher had seemed to take this as a cue that he could fatally harm as many people as he wanted. Nino had thought that the two of them were far enough away that they wouldn’t be hurt, but Alya slipped away from his side to get a closer shot of the Akuma attack. He didn’t realize until it was too late. He watched in horror as the Crusher singled Alya out. The crusher threw a semi at Alya, Nino had let out a cry. He began to run towards her, but he knew that he wouldn’t make it in time. That is when Chat Noir and Ladybug had both jumped in and saved her. They had asked if she was alright before leaping back into battle. That was the moment that Nino had realized he had almost lost Alya. He had vowed he would never let her come so close to danger again. He had failed.

Slowly he sat down on the chair by his desk and let out an exasperated sigh. That is when his phone began to buzz, pulling him out of the sorry state that he was in. It was Ayla's mom.

“H--hello,” He answered. Concern gripped his stomach as he waited for Ayla's mom to speak. He was sure that she would say that Ladybug had caught the bad guy and undone whatever he had done to Alya. He was positive, because that is what Ladybug and Chat Noir did. They saved Alya.

“Nino, It’s awful,” Marlena was crying on the other line. Nino felt his stomach drop to his feet.

“What is?” He asked, dreading what she was going to say.

“The akuma that attacked tonight, he sent our Alya to an alternate dimension. The consciousness of an Alternate Alya is stuck in Alya’s body,” Ayla's mom explained. Nino’s body felt tight like he couldn’t breathe.

“What about Ladybug?” He asked, unsure he wanted to hear the answer.

“Chat Noir was affected by the akuma attack, and it gave the akuma a chance to escape. She didn’t have a chance to bring Alya back,” She explained. Nino felt like he was falling into oblivion, he had failed Alya. He had failed her, and he had lost her.


	2. Feathers and Silk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Alya tries to find a way home, she makes some shocking discoveries

Alya’s brain wanted to pop out of her skull when she came to. She tried to sink lower into the feather pillow that her head was rested on, to no avail. No matter what position she shifted her body to in her silk sheets she still continued to ache.  _ Feathers? Silk? _ Suddenly the headache didn’t seem as big of an issue as alya felt her eyes snap open. She was greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar room, with unfamiliar bedding. She threw off her bedding to see that she was in a silk nightgown as well. The familiar brush of her hair against the back of her neck was also gone, and Alya’s hands snapped up to her hair to discover she had acquired a pixie cut at some point during the night. Everything seemed wrong, and completely out of place. It took a painfully long time for Alya to drag the explanation from her foggy memories. Once she did she was greeted by images of the night before. Ladybug and Chat Noir on a rooftops. A million phone calls from Nino. The switcher's hand firmly placed on Alya’s back. And the pain. Alya felt goosebumps just from thinking about the excruciating pain that she went through. 

On her bedside table her phone buzzed, dragging her from her morbid thoughts of the night blunders. Instead she pulled the sleek phone off of the bedside table and pressed it to her ear without checking to see who it was.

“Hello,” She mumbled sleepily into the receiver.

“Good morning beautiful,” The voice on the other end of the line cooed. The voice sounded like a more dramatic version of Nino.  _ Nino! _ The memory of an angry phone call from the night before entered her mind as sudden realization hit her like a brick. Panic gripped Alya’s stomach as she was reminded of the last words she had said to him. ‘ _...you will just have to get yourself a new girlfriend...’  _ She felt like she was going to vomit as the weight of what she had said began to dawn on her. In the moment she had been so filled with adrenaline that she hadn’t even realized, but she had basically broken up with Nino. Alya felt raw as she thought of what Nino must have thought.  _ He hates me _ . Was the only thought that would come to her mind. She was sure of it. Nino had such a high tolerance when it came to Alya, but she was sure he had hit his breaking point. She wanted to run to him and explain that hadn’t meant that she wanted to break up. She had only meant to explain that she would always run towards the danger when Ladybug was involved. She desperately wanted to explain herself, but she couldn’t. Instead she was stuck in an alternate universe, an alternate universe with silk and feathers.

“Alya, babe are you there?” The voice called. Alya could only assume it was Nino, the voice sounded too similar.

“Yeah, I’m here,” She responded shakily. Her hands balled into fists as she wanted to scream at the Nino she was on the phone with. He wasn’t the Nino that she wanted to talk to. She didn’t want anything to do with him, but she also didn’t want to ruin her alternate versions relationship. So instead she tried to be as nice as possible.

“Good, I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be a little late to school today, I have an early rehearsal for Newsies.” He explained.  _ What?  _ She couldn’t fathom why Nino would be in Newsies, in Paris.  _ Unless...  _ Without a second thought, Alya pushed herself out of bed and slowly walked over towards the window in her bedroom. It wasn’t a surprise to see that the curtains were made of silk. 

“That’s fine,” Alya mumbled, not really caring what this Nino had to say. Instead she slowly pulled the silk curtain back to look outside her window. Nino kept blathering on the other end of the line, but she didn’t listen. Instead she was completely consumed by what was outside her window. Skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. Below on the streets masses of people were walking in every direction, despite the fact that it was an early hour. Somewhere deep in herself she remembered a trip that her family had made years ago. Her mother had wanted to go see some of the best hotels in the world. One of the places they went was New York City. Alya was sure that that was where she was. She took a step back and let the silk curtain fall back into place. Nino continued talking about his role in Newsies. The day just seemed to be getting worse.

“Nino, I’m sorry I have to go,” She announced, cutting him off mid sentence. It took her a couple of minutes of fumbling with the phone to hang up, but she eventually got it. 

She paced around the room for a few minutes, unsure what to do. She paced around the room for a few minutes, unsure what to do. The thought of Ladybug burst into her mind. There had to be an alternate version of them in this world. If she could get Ladybug’s help then maybe she could find her way home. Alya had had her suspicions about who Ladybug was for a while. She had respected her privacy and hadn’t talked about it, hoping one day Ladybug would have the courage to tell her. Yet, there was a time for respect and a time for action. She needed to find Ladybug order to get home. The best place to start looking for them was at school.  She looked down at the sleek phone in her hands, hoping that her alternate self had the address stored somewhere on the device. It took her a painfully long time to find the address to her correct school on her phone. The device seemed more sleek and futuristic than anything Alya had ever laid eyes on before. She fumbled around with it for what felt like hours before finally pinpointing the location of the school. When she finally did she ripped the silk nightgown off and threw on what looked like a school uniform. It was a plaid skirt and a white button up blouse. 

Without another thought she left the apartment, not even stopping in the kitchen to say goodbye to her mother, who was busy cooking breakfast. She bounded out the doors on the first floor and towards the school, before she could change her mind. Using a phone as a guide she began walking towards the school. She didn’t stop for anything, She didn’t stop for the Limo that came screeching around a corner and almost hit her, She didn’t stop for the crowds of people that seemed to want her autograph for some reason, She didn’t even stop when she heard people talking about Ladybug on the side of the road. Alya only stopped when she was inside the school, outside of her classroom. She stopped when she looked inside and saw Marinette throw her arm around Chloe’s in comradery. A million emotions at once entered Alya’s heart as she saw Marinette, the kindest girl Alya knew, turn and begin to bully all of the students already in the classroom. For a moment Alya and Marinette made eye contact, just long enough for her to see the angry glint in Marinette’s eyes. If Alya’s suspicions were right Ladybug was not going to be of any help to Alya.

She felt her body sink to the ground and tears began to roll down her cheeks. It was clear that she looked ridiculous, but she couldn’t help it. All of her hopes for getting home had gone out the window when she had seen how cruel and uncaring Marinette was. Nino had seemed so close to his original copy she had assumed that Marinette would be as well. She couldn’t be more wrong. All of the raw feeling were coming out in the form of tears. She didn’t know how long she cried, but eventually she tried to compose herself and looked at the brick wall across the hall from her, trying to focus on anything to help ground her. A body stepped into view, blocking the brick wall from her line of sight, but Alya didn’t care. That is, she didn’t care until the figure knelt down next to her.

With tears in her eyes, it took her a couple of moments to realize that it was Adrien Agreste standing in front of her. The look on his face was incomprehensible, and Alya couldn’t tell if he would be kind to her like nino, or a cruel counterpart like Marinette. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know if it was the latter.

“Hey are you okay?” Adrien asked kindly. He gave her a warm smile that made all of Alya’s fears melt away. At least this Adrien was kind. If he was anything like the model that she knew from her own reality the boy would be someone that she could easily talk to. 

“Adrien...” She trailed off. What did she tell him? That she had magically been transported from her own reality to this one. He would think she was insane. He would call for someone to lock her up and throw away the key.

“It’s alright, just tell me what’s going on.” He said comfortingly. He put his arm on her arm as if to stable her. Adrien was doing an excellent job of making her feel safe, just like her own Adrien. She decided she could try to tell him.

“I--- It's just I never expected Marinette to..” She trailed off again. What if Adrien was friends with Marinette? She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t tell an alternate version of Adrien anything. She desperately wanted a friend from her own reality she could talk to. 

As if reading her thought, Adrien responded. “Alya, don’t worry. I was affected by the Switcher attack too. Just tell me what is going on.” Alya breathed a sigh of relief. Adrien had been affected by the Switcher attack as well. With that in mind, the words she wanted to say freely escaped her lips.

“Adrien it’s horrible. It’s Marinette. She’s.... She’s a monster.” She explained. She planned to go into more detail, but Adrien didn’t give her a chance. His face flashed with what looked like fear, and she watched him rise from where he knelt next to her. Without another word he walked towards the door. Horror flashed on his face as he looked inside the room, no doubt seeing some horrible thing Marinette was doing.

As Adrien stood there in shock, a thought occurred to Alya. She had been the only person that was under the age of 25 that had been trapped by the Switcher. There had only been two people that had arrived after the forcefield had gone up. If Adrien had been affected by the switcher there was only one explanation. There was only one way that Adrien could have been there. It made so much sense, that Alya was upset for having not noticed it before. Adrien might just be her ticket home, because Adrien had connections to Ladybug that she didn’t. Adrien was Chat Noir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nino will be next time I guess. In case you were curious, yes this exact same dialogue takes place in swapped. It felt fun to revisit the story from Alya's POV especially at a scene that was exactly the same.


	3. Morning Dew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nino is left entirely alone with his thoughts as he comes to grips with the Idea that Alya is out of his reach.

Nino held his phone to his face long after the call ended. He didn’t dare to move. It felt like if he moved the floor would give out beneath him and swallow him whole. His world felt like it was crumbling in around him. He stood rooted to the ground convinced that at any moment everything would shatter into a thousand pieces. The world felt completely dark at the thought of Alya in some alternate reality. She was all alone. The only thought that stopped Nino from completely giving up hope was Ladybug.  Ladybug was always there when Paris needed her. Like a beacon of hope she would come swooping in with her lucky charm and fix everything. That’s how it always worked.The thought of Ladybug helped Nino relax a little. Alya would be just fine, Ladybug would pull through. Nino allowed himself to relax a little. Slowly he pulled his phone away from his face and let it rest in his palm. He stared at his blank phone expecting Ayla's mom to call back any minute saying that Ladybug had fixed everything. A minute passed. Then two. Ten minutes sped by and there was still no call to say Ladybug had fixed everything. After 20 minutes of anxiously watching his phone Nino decided the best course of action was to go outside and get his mind off of the situation. He shoved his phone into his back pocket, grabbed his bag for school and left the house.

It was still dark when Nino made it out onto the streets. Despite the early hour there were more people on the streets than he expected was normal. Many confused people were being escorted in various directions by police officers. It didn’t take a detective to deduce that the confused people were no doubt victims of the switcher attack. Most seemed dazed, and a couple were even crying. Annoyance gripped Nino’s heart, he had wanted to get his mind off of the akuma attack, not walk right into the middle of its aftermath. He quickened his pace, not wanting to let his mind wander to the thought of Alya. He didn’t want to think about how lost and alone she must feel in the alternate dimension. Instead he focused on the cold morning air that clinged to his skin. He observed morning dew hanging off strands of grass and glistened in the reflection of street lights. He paid more attention to the small details of Paris than he had in years. Anything to keep his mind off of Alya. Yet the more he paid attention to the random things on the streets the more his mind was drawn towards Alya until his mind was completely consumed with the thought of Alya. A cat ran by in front of Nino, making him think of the day that he had started dating Alya. It had been because an akuma attack.

He had asked Marinette on a date to the zoo. At least it was theoretically a date. Later Alya would tell him that Marinette had thought Adrien would be there. The date had been off to a rocky start when he tried to tell Marinette he had a crush on her. In the heat of the moment he had froze and said he actually had feelings for her friend Alya. The date got worse as Marinette became overly excited over the idea and offered to set the two up. It was a comedy of errors. Alya was a good friend to Nino, but he had never considered her as more. She was always so bossy and it had honestly scared Nino a little bit. When an akuma suddenly attacked Nino found himself locked in a cage by ladybug. But he wasn’t alone, he had been locked in with none other than Alya herself. The two spent several hours stuck in an animal cage at the zoo. Looking back it was laughable to think about, but in the moment Nino had been a ball of nerves. Yet, as the day had gone on the two had begun to talk. The more they talked the more Nino realized how much he liked talking with her. Before long his crush for Marinette had fled his mind. It had been replaced with the thought of Alya.

As their relationship had progressed Nino had felt his attraction to her grow by the day. Attraction gave way to something deeper. Like Adrien Nino had grown up in a cold home. A home filled with unkind words and unfulfilled expectations. Alya was one of few people that Nino felt like he could truly rely on. The warmth and kindness that she showed him was a stark contrast to his home life, and he had come to rely on her. Alongside Adrien and Marinette she was the final piece in the puzzle of his life. His friends had been his strength. Alya had become his hope. Before he had known it, Nino had fallen deeply and irrevocably in Love with Alya.

Despite the cold of the early morning Nino felt his face get warmer even thinking the word Love. It was a powerful word that Nino wasn’t sure he was quite ready to accept. Yet he knew it was true. He had fallen madly in love with Alya and there was nothing he could have done to stop it. It was like a disease that had stemmed from the heart and slowly traveled through his body until it had entirely consumed him. He had known he was in love with Alya for a long time, but had never been able to tell her. Every time the moment seemed right he would choke up at the word ‘love’ and the words would get caught in his throat. By the time his throat would loosen up they would be on to a new conversation and his moment had passed. It had happened more times than Nino cared to think about, and he abhorred the idea of it continuing to happen.  _ That is if Alya ever makes it back alive.  _ A little voice in the back of his mind said. Violently Nino shook his head until he saw stars, trying to mute the voice in the back of his mind. He was sure he looked like a moron to anyone that was looking, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to get the venomous thought out of his mind.

When he finally stopped shaking his head he looked down the street to see a blonde boy standing next to a streetlight, looking at it confused. The boy had his back turned to Nino and at first he couldn’t tell who it was in the dark, yet as he got closer it became clear to him that the boy was Adrien. The tension in his stomach loosened slightly and Nino was grateful to see him. Adrien would know how to comfort Nino in his time of need. He called out to Adrien and he watched the boy stiffen. No doubt he was paranoid his dad would find him out and would give him a stern talking to. As Adrien slowly turned around Nino fully expected him to calm down and let his paranoia be replaced with a genuine smile, but that didn’t happen. Instead Adrien looked at him with cold recognition and a look that Nino couldn’t quite place on the model’s face.

“What do you want jerk?” A dark and angry voice came from Adrien’s lips. The anger seemed so out of place coming from him that Nino had to double check he was actually talking to Adrien. There was a fiery anger in Adrien’s eyes that Nino had never seen before.  _ Poor kid has finally snapped under all the pressure his dad has him in. _ Nino thought to himself. 

“Woah man are you okay?” Nino asked, “That sure is no way to treat your best friend.” He added the last part mostly in hopes to snap Adrien out of whatever angry trance had found himself in. For a split moment Adrien’s face softened, but then his anger quickly returned.

“We haven’t been friends since you got your start on broadway and turned into a cocky jerk.” Adrien spat. Despite the anger clinging to Adrien’s voice, Nino felt himself burst into laughter. 

“Me on broadway?” Nino chuckled, “What kind of drugs are you on?” He asked. Despite his anger confusion had swept across Adrien’s face. He opened his mouth as if ready to say something but now words came out. “There’s no chance that i’d ever do something like that in this lifetime.”  _ In this lifetime _ . The words bounced around in Nino’s skull a few times. Something seemed so wrong about those words. Yet, he couldn’t think of exactly what. It wasn’t until he remembered with horror exactly what had happened to Alya. The Switcher had sent her to an alternate dimension. In essence a different life. Nino felt like he had been hit by a truck as he looked back at the boy in front of him with a look of utter horror. His laughter suddenly died away and the two were left in silence. Looking at each other with their mouths hanging open. 

Nino wanted to run into a dark hole and never come back out. Alya wasn’t the only one he knew that had been affected by the latest akuma attack. Somehow Adrien had as well. Despite the fact that the boy before him looked and sounded like his best friend, that couldn’t be further from the truth. He was a stranger that had stole his friend’s body. An imposter that couldn’t be trusted. A pit began to grow in his stomach as Nino realized that both of the most important people in his life were gone. He was all alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoopsies, poor poor nino.
> 
> I'm gonna be real with you. I wrote and rewrote this part about 19 times because it never felt quite right. It took me weeks to finally get this to a point where I felt like it would actually do Nino some form of justice. So enjoy!


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